"Ano ba naman 'tong si Teva, ang hirap! Walang pasabi!"A guy behind us exclaimed this. I can't blame him. We were trailing an uphill road when he said this and it was only the first hundred meters of the Teva Trail Challenge. So how did I end up there, you ask?
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Well, my running idol/work colleague won an online raffle that entitled him a free registration for this Teva Trail Challenge. Unfortunately, he is already registered to Milo 42k run and the event is the same day as Teva's. So, he gave this up to another colleague of ours, RJ, whom tagged me to join him in this event. It was so thoughtful of him if it wasn't for the timing, FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE TRAIL RUN!
Apparently, I haven't ran for a very long time. The first, last and longest run that I attended was a 3k fun run of 7Eleven last January. I also don't have proper shoes for a trail run. But, heck yeah! I'm crazy enough to join him! I'm so badass that I purposely didn't do training (not even short runs or stretching) because what for, right? Besides, I decided to join two days before the event. What training can I possibly get with such a short time? I did it just for the experience and the thrill of zero preparedness. Ohhh yeah :)
> The day of the event:
We're at the ROX Bonifacio High Street before 3:00am and the buses are already lined up there to pickup the participants. I want to thank Sir Ian for being very accommodating by the time we got at the pickup place. He is quick to assist us and personally gave us our singlet and other things. My favorite was the Teva shoe USB flash drive. It has only 980MB memory but it was so cute that once he handed it, my day was already complete. I don't know if all the the participants got one. If not, then maybe we got one because we mistakenly took the special "media" bus. Hahhaha.
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| Teva shoes USB Flash Drive |
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| Notice the name: Eden Jacob. Another first, having a different name for a day! |
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| Waiting in the Teva media bus with RJ. We really looked alike in this picture. I think we can pass as siblings. Haha. |
> Arrival at Eartheaven:
It was still dark when we got to Eartheaven in San Mateo, Rizal. The lack of cellphone signal, singing of birds and sound of rushing river on the background made me feel that we're in the middle of nowhere. I grabbed the opportunity to savor the forest air of Rizal. I was enjoying walking down the path to the event proper when I suddenly spotted an obstacle course. It gave me the grave reminder of why we are there. It was only then that my mind wrapped around the fact that we were there, it's real, it's a 5k trail run and I am unprepared! I almost pictured my mind saying "gotcha!" and myself saying "WTF brain??". LOL.
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| Eartheaven entrance. I shot this after the run that's why its already sunny. |
The program started with an introduction, briefing on what to expect and some warm up exercise lead by Coach Manny who is also one of the marshals along the trail. I find it funny when some participants fondly call him as "Kuya Teva" whenever they need assistance. haha.
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| Teva Trail Run participants, waiting for the program to start. |
> Gun start! Teva Trail Run! Or slide? Or death march?
Ahhh.. Whenever I remember the trail that we got through, I am only thankful that I finished it and RJ was there to help and encourage my sorry ass! Hahaha. The trail started by exiting the Eartheaven vicinity and up to an uphill road. I heard lots of participants commenting and joking about how the trail started with a difficult uphill road. "Start palang, ito agad?". Little did we know that it was only Teva's introduction on why the event is called "TRAIL CHALLENGE".
Upon entering the forest, we were greeted by the thing I dreaded most about this run; the trail was muddy and slippery! It rained hard the night before so I expected as much (at least the event was not postponed just because of the rain unlike 7Eleven. hehe). But what made it more difficult was parts of the trail is steep.
Steep earth + mud = mudslide!
The path was so sleek that an American participant ahead of us slid off the trail and bulldozed the plants and bamboos below him. The marshals and other participants got worried but he reassured us he's okay and even threw a joke before sliding down saying, "Bye, guys." Respect for you, sir American.
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| First obstacle: Wall climb. Not that the slippery mud was enough obstacle, right? Photo from ROX Facebook page |
The second obstacle is the only obstacle that I wish we had gone through repeatedly so I can try them all. I could have taken the rope swing 'cause it looked fun but there's still a participant using it when we arrived. So, we opted for the second fastest and safest way to cross the river: the rope bridge. The saying "Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others" is true with this trail.
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| 2nd Obstacle: Choose your bridge. "When you find your path, you must ignore fear." |
After the second obstacle, we waded through the river. RJ took advantage of this by washing out the mud from himself. The river was cool and refreshing despite its muddy appearance. There was a time when me and RJ were taking the river route, we noticed that there were no people trailing ahead nor behind us. It left us wondering if we're still on the right track. Haha.
At that time, my right shoe started to break up. Its 1st layer of sole (it has three layers) separated from my shoe as if a form of protest that it had enough. Some meters after that, my left shoe joined my right shoe's betrayal: breaking up two layers of sole at once. I cant blame the old shoe if it wants to retire, but really? In the middle of a forest pa talaga? Perfect timing! Hays! It significantly slowed us down. I was determined to push on while trying to preserve what's left of my shoe. I was so distracted with my shoe that I never noticed the waterfall along the trail T_T
Luckily, we caught up on other participants that were congested with crossing the deep part of the river since there was only one rope to hold on to. Unfortunately, there was a participant that slipped on a river rock she's climbing on and hit her chin. Some of the marshals panicked and suddenly forgot what to do in case of this. Thankfully, God-sent Coach Manny was there and took control of the situation by instructing the medics and marshals with his authoritative voice.
After the river, we were back to the muddy trail again. It was only 3 kilometers and we already spent more than an hour going through it. The refreshing cold river helped re-energize my barely walking legs and gave me enough confidence that I can finish this if it weren't only for the depressing, disheartening, soul-crushing seemingly NEVER ENDING UPHILL SLOPE!! Seriously! For the first time of my trekking life, I thought of giving up and admit defeat just to get out of that cursed slope. My shoes weren't helping as its soles were only barely holding on. Thankfully, RJ was there and told me to just enjoy the view from the hill. Most importantly, don't look up at the slope and just keep walking.
We were greeted with hydration stations after the neverending uphill ascent. Seeing the station is a hope-lifting sign for me and the marshalls said there are no more uphill slopes. BUT... Surprise! More obstacle course ahead!
Since we were one of the last batch of the run, the obstacle courses are now covered with mud left by the participants that came before us. We had a choice to skip the obstacle course but we will be penalized with 3 minutes. The college girls that were with us had a hard time crossing the monkeybars. One of them even slipped and fell on her back. She just lied there on the mud before a marshall picked her up by the neck. I think for a second she enjoyed just lying there LOL. Thankfully, RJ again to the rescue, helped me up while crossing the monkey bars. They gave us elastic bracelets which indicates that we crossed the obstacle so we wont be penalized...
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| checkpoint bracelets. haha. |
Next is wall climb. RJ had a hard time climbing since its slippery with mud. Even after pushing up his ass proved to be futile. Haha. I just climbed first with his help and then pulled him up when he climbed. Next is rope swing on mud pits. But there are too many participants to use the rope swing that time so the marshalls said we can just cross the mudpit. Great. At least I can camouflage my soleless shoes with mud. After that, we have to cross another (5 meter-long?) mudpit.
I was very happy to see the finish line after the mudpit. RJ and I were just walking towards it when someone yelled "Takbo na!" OH GEEZ! I forgot! This is a race! I was so preoccupied about the trail, the mud and exhaustion that I thought we were just hiking. RJ and me ran towards the finish line and clocked in with 2:22:44. A sucky time but the experience is all worth it. After we crossed the finish line, we went straight up to the shower room.
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| What's left of my shoes. Huhu. It was originally color mint-green |
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Documenting my destroyed shoes. Haha.
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All in all, it was a really exhilarating and super fun experience. Thanks again to RJ for tagging me along with his trip :)
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| After the run. The only picture of us with our singlet on :( |
Teva Trail Challenge Time Result:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151740521003903.1073741836.136649688902&type=1
Teva Trail Challenge Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151742312738903.1073741839.136649688902&type=1
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